Yeah, I have separated the hard drive from the PCB by a piece of card as was suggested by someone. Also I have taken the PCB off the drive altogether. It's the same message on hyperterminal no matter what I do. I'm thinking there isn't much else i can try. The drive does appear to spin down after initial connection (using the card between the drive and PCB)) but that's obviously not controlled by the software. Thanks for the speedy reply aotta by the way.